Fracture
by marsellia-rose
Summary: Au. Where Artemis really does die, and Wally cannot forgive Dick anymore than Dick can forgive himself. Set from S2E7 Depths to the end of season 2. Oneshot. Character death. Spitfire, onesided!Dick/Wally. Onesided!Birdflash. Part three of my "To Love Another" series.


It wasn't supposed to happen like this.

Artemis wasn't really supposed to die. Kaldur was supposed to _pretend_ to kill her, and only the four of them would know the truth; that Artemis, like Kaldur, had become a double agent against Black Manta, the Light, and the Light's mysterious partner. She was supposed to become Tigress.

She wasn't supposed to be dying in his arms

"ARTEMIS! Dammit Artemis, don't you dare die on me!" Dick was shouting now, but really, he couldn't be bothered to care. Artemis was _dying_, for god's sake. One of Black Manta's soldiers had killed her- as a result, they'd given Kaldur away, and the members of Black Manta's army had all fled the scene, not wanting to face the wrath of the team.

Now Dick was kneeling on the sad trying- with Kaldur's help- to keep Artemis alive while everyone else stared on in shock.

"Dammit, Artemis. I'm not laughing now." Dick said softly, pulling a holographic version of the photo he'd taken all those years ago, smiling faintly- sadly- at the memory.

Artemis let out a pained laugh. "…Dick?"

Di ck smiled softly at her, nodding. "Yeah." He glanced over at where the team was standing, staring in shock. He was pretty sure that the reason they stood so far away was because when they tried to get closer he'd lashed out, but he couldn't be sure.

"Nightwing," Kaldur put a hand on his shoulder, "she's gone."

Dick turned back towards Artemis, and Kaldur was right. She was gone. He let out a heavy breath, standing up, her body in his arms.

"Here." Kaldur held out his arms to take her, but Dick shook his head. This was his responsibility.

He turned towards the team again and opened his mouth to speak- to tell the what to do- but nothing came out.

Kaldur, realizing that Dick wasn't going to say anything, intervened. "M'gann, get the bioship ready. We're leaving."

Apparently his ordering them around shocked them out of their stupor, as then La'gaan felt the need to speak. "YOU! You're a traitor! Why should we listen to anything you have to say! Nightwing, tell him." La'gaan gestured angrily, staring first at Kaldur, then at Dick.

Dick just looked at Kaldur helplessly, before turning towards M'gann and nodding. She understood.

"Kaldur, if it's alright with you…" She trailed off. She couldn't very well rip through his brain- something she'd previously considered doing- and so she wanted his permission.

Kaldur, understanding what she wanted, nodded. She immediately delved into his mind, and soon enough found what she needed.

"He's working as a double agent for Nightwing." She said. "He's on our side." But now she couldn't help but wonder if maybe Superboy was right- because what would have happen if she, unknowing of his true alliance, had ripped through his brain, leaving him comatose.

Kaldur nodded. "Call the bioship. It's time to go home." He glanced at Dick, who was staring off into the distance, not responding to anything around him.

Dick just stared blankly. He had only one thought in his mind- how do I tell Wally I got his girlfriend killed?

The ride back to Mount Justice was a long, quiet affair. Dick never said a word, just sitting there, holding Artemis's body. Everyone else was too wrapped up in their own thoughts to make a comment.

When they finally arrived back home, M'gann and Kaldur went to call the Justice League and explain the situation. Conner, realizing that Dick wasn't going to be able to do anything on his own, led him over to the sofa before calling Wally.

He didn't say much on the phone, just told Wally he needed to come to Mount Justice immediately. Wally said okay, that he'd be there in a half and hour.

The Justice League showed up, and had the situation explained to them. Eventually they left, but Rocket and Zatana stayed behind. Rocket immediately hugged Kaldur, explaining how glad she was that he was on their side. Zatana just went and sat by Dick, offering a silent sort of comfort that she knew he would appreciate.

_Recognized, Kid Flash- B03_.

Dick immediately looked up from his spot on the couch. Wally had barely even walked in before he stopped, staring at the body laying in Dick's arms. He didn't say anything, just slowly walked forward until he was standing right in front of Dick. Dick refused to meet his eyes, instead choosing to remain seated and star down at his shoes.

It was Kaldur who broke the silence. "It didn't go as planned. Someone else…" He stopped, taking a deep breath before continuing- "someone else got to her before I could fake her death."

Wally turned to look at Kaldur, and Kaldur flinched at the amount of anger in his eyes. "I can see that, Kaldur. What I want to know is where were you when _someone else_ was killing her." He turned back down to Dick. "Actually, I don't even need to know where you were, Kaldur. You had your guise to maintain. But where were you, _Nightwing_, when she was dying? Where were you- you, who was supposed to be _protecting_ her? Who _promised _me she wouldn't get hurt?"

Dick took a deep breath. Standing up, not meeting Wally in the eye, he held out Artemis's body. Wally immediately took it, before glaring at Dick again. "Where were you, _Dick_?" He asked, just quiet enough so that no one besides Dick could hear him.

Dick glanced up into Wally's eyes, and, upon seeing the amount of anger and hate that was there, immediately glanced back down.

Wally glared at him, and, upon realizing he wasn't going to get an answer, turned towards the team. "I'm leaving, and I'm taking her body with me." He strode over to the zeta tube angrily.

_Recognized Kid Flash- B03._

As soon as Wally had left, Dick fled the room, retreating into the halls of Mount Justice. Zatana made to follow him, but was stopped by Kaldur. "Let him go. He needs to be alone right now." Kaldur turned towards the rest of the team. "As for the rest of you, go about your business. Grieve. Spend time together. And leave Nightwing alone."

They dispersed. La'gaan immediately went over to M'gann. "Hey, angelfish." He smiled softly at her.

She sighed. "La'gaan, we need to talk."

He nodded. "Okay. Let's talk. What did you want to talk about?"

M'gann stared at him, looking like she was about to cry. "La'gaan, with Artemis having just…" she trailed of, unable to say the word died- "with what just happened, and realizing that Kaldur is non our side….I've realized that this-" She motioned between them- "this isn't fair to you. I've been dragging you along, but I've realized that I…I don't love you. I love…" She trailed off again, but judging by the look on La'gaan's face, he knew what she meant.

"You love Superboy."

"Yeah." She sighed. "I love Conner."

La'gaan shook his head. "Fine. Fine." He threw his hands up. "Are we done here?"

M'gann flinched, before nodding. La'gaan stormed off. M'gann immediately went to search for Conner.

Meanwhile, Kaldur leaned on the doorway to Mount Justice's workout room- yes, Mount Justice had a workout room. It was full of lots of things, all courtesy of Batman.

Inside the room, Dick was pounding into a punching bag, letting out all his anger. However, one can only carry so much anger, and it wasn't long before he stopped, backing up into the wall and sliding down it, sitting on the ground with his legs bent, his arms wrapped around them and his forehead resting on his knees.

Even though he couldn't hear him, Kaldur knew he was crying. The unflappable, unshakable Nightwing was crying.

And Kaldur had no idea what to do for the younger man. How do you comfort someone who just witnessed the love of their life's girlfriend be killed, and is now being blamed by said love.

Because if there's one thing Kaldur knew, it's that Dick never once stopped loving Wally.

His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of Robin. "I know you said to leave him alone," Robin started quietly, "but he's my brother, and I know how he can get. I just needed to come make sure he wasn't gonna disappear on us."

Kaldur nodded. "It's fine. I just didn't want everyone coming to see if he was okay."

Robin smiled sadly at Kaldur. "You're a good friend to him, you know? We don't talk much," Robin shrugged, "but when we do talk, he'd tell me about the team's beginning. And you've always been a good friend to him."

Kaldur smiled softly. "I tried."

Robin nodded. "I know."

Oo0oO

Wally did end up returning. In his KF suit.

He justified it by saying that he wanted to kill ever last member of the Light if it's the last thing he did.

Kaldur- who had taken charge of the team- made sure never to pair him with Dick- Dick, who hadn't spoken a word since Artemis died.

Who still suffered in silence, and wouldn't let anyone in.

This went on for quite some time. Wally was angry, everyone could see that, and Dick was broken. And the biggest problem was Kaldur could see that no matter what, Dick still loved Wally.

Course, no one else noticed till the last battle against the Reach. When Wally and Barry and Bart were attempting to save the world, and everyone could see that Wally, being the slowest, was dying. So what did Dick do?

He introduced something even slower into the equation. Himself.

The lightening immediately left Wally, instead going after Dick, the slowest thing kin the circle. And in that instant Wally knew that no matter how mad he was at Dick, he didn't want Dick to die.

But by then it was too late. Dick was fading from the mind link. And all Wally heard was one last, final thought.

_"Wally….I'm sorry. I love you."_

Oo0oO

**A/N: Yes, I know Nightwing seemed a bit OOC. But in all honestly, that's how I imagine he'd grieve. Especially when he thinks it's his fault. He'd just sort of shut down. And I know the lack of Batman helping him grieve seems weird, but you have to remember- Batman is trying to stop the Light from doing their thing.**

**This is set in the same universe as Lonesome Bleeding Heart and Unbreakable, my two other oneshots. I just couldn't help but wonder how they would all cope if their plan failed and she was killed by someone else before Kaldur could get to her.**

** Also, side note: Yes, I know that a lot of the characters got taken away by Kaldur for the Light and the Reach. But I decided that I needed them, so you'll just have to assume they weren't taken. **

** I didn't actually want Dick to die. But the story kind of took over, and this happened. I'm sorry for the broken feels I probably gave you all**

** Please review?**


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